It is essential to brew winter wine on the winter solstice, because there is a saying in the ancient city of Suzhou: "If you don't drink winter wine on the winter solstice, you will be frozen overnight." This winter wine is brewed only once a year. This is a kind of rice wine made of osmanthus fragrans. As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, ancient wine was the embryonic form of yellow rice wine and yellow rice wine. Osmanthus fragrans winter brewing in Suzhou, Jiangnan is an ancient and authentic wine taste of China people. Turning to the classics, osmanthus winter brewing is also called "three wines", that is, "soaking white glutinous rice with clear water and making koji with white flour".

2.wonton

The ancients said that the sky is round and the earth is round. The square wonton skin represents the ground, and the stuffing in the tundish is the weather, which is a "chaotic world" that is inseparable from heaven and earth. People eat "wonton" on the winter solstice, which means eating the "chaotic world" and making it a peaceful world.

3. Potted vegetables

After the winter solstice, besides drinking winter wine, another custom of Suzhou people is to eat pot-stewed vegetables. In the past, there was a saying among the people that "there is a copper coin to eat all night, but there is no copper coin to freeze all night". Now, of course, there is no overnight freezing, and we won't really eat overnight, but it is still the custom of many Suzhou families to buy some ready-made braised dishes and have a good reunion dinner at home. Therefore, without exception, the pot-stewed food shops in Sioux City will welcome the best business one or two days before the winter solstice.

4. Winter to Japan Group

Suzhou people also have the saying of "winter solstice group", also called "rice cake group" On the night before the winter solstice, it was ground into a ball and stuffed with minced meat, vegetables and fruits, red bean paste and shredded radish, and was sacrificed and given to each other. There is still the custom of eating jiaozi from winter solstice in Wudi countryside.

5. Mutton

"Killing tigers in winter and spring" is a popular proverb among Wu people. Suzhou people also began to make a big tonic from the winter solstice, and also formed the peak of eating mutton after autumn. Chinese medicine believes that mutton and dog meat have the function of strengthening yang and tonifying deficiency. Suzhou people also began to make up from the solstice in winter, and they ate the famous Wuzhong mutton.